Michael J. Boskin is Professor of Economics at Stanford University and Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. He was Chairman of George H. W. Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers from 1989 to 1993, and headed the so-called Boskin Commission, a congressional advisory body that highlighted errors in official US inflation estimates.

Mr. Boskin again proves the adage that where you stand depends on where you sit. His "economics" is really political rhetoric and his social surrounding, e.g., an income of $250,000 for starters has no relevance to the reality of the US economy. Why does Project Syndicate publish such nonsense. One can get this sort of stuff from the editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal.

This author doesn't like voters who don't agree with his policies. He doesn't see that his chosen policies have benefited the rich at the expense of the rest of us. Maybe that knowledge would help him understand why voters do not faver his policies.

Prof, I sense a general view that the hippies of the late '60s have become the patricians of 2016 and throughout that time frame of the past 40 years have gamed the system to benefit them rather than to spread the benefits of capitalism down to successive generations - the "Me Generation"....don't serve in war and don't give anything back. Even at lower executive levels you see them hang onto their job to 65+ and keep down the next generation or two (ironically, their children). Discuss...

With a starting salary of $250,000 your young urban couple are indeed living the American dream. However that would leave the greatest part of the popultion in much worse condition- and exactly that is driving politicians such as Trump and Sanders. Your patrician elites may be content but all the rest are very, very angry.

Wait... Don't Governments spend more of low growth periods to stimulate growth, so any analysis is biased and there can't be evidence on anything... But isn't Government spending a much more precise instrument then tax cuts to achieve a result...

Why is everyone so worried about the US election? All that is going to happen is a changing of the guard with the lobbyists still in place to push, pull and cajole there whares as they have done for some time now. They will be able to trump any of the trumpeting Mr Trump puts up as they have done previously with those supposable elected to do the best for the country and it is like so with all main stream countries except maybe China for now.
As for the economy, the economists still want to chase the last dregs of what has proven to be disastrous on many fronts, the environment and of course there is all those pesky humans whole take up space now that they have served their purpose. Placing the importance on the wrong people is not helping either....>>.... $250,000 – roughly the starting salary of an urban couple in their first jobs... << that says a lot about where the democratic free world is heading. Why not spare a thought for the people who service these people like the garbos that have to get up early to do their work so they do not impede those urban couples from a free run into the office in there gas guzzlers.
With so much happening in the world today it is hard to imagine what can happen to our future and with so many opinions floating around, I’m sure someone will look back and say “I told you so”.....

Sanders and Trump are for people who are angry at the status quo and want change. Hillary and Crubio are mainstream and support the status quo. In other words, the politics is divided four ways. You will get people who will vote either Trump or Sanders but not Hillary or Crubio because they simply want to try something new - anything.

While tax cuts might be marginally better than public spending at increasing GDP - public spending benefits Joe Public while tax cuts benefit the both Koch brothers and their shady accountant in the Cayman Islands.

As one of the people totally and blatantly screwed by trade "Liberalization" any change on that front will be an improvement. As for the big banks they gat a bailout, I got a lecture on "Moral Hazard". And if you think the Republican candidates proposal to eliminate all capital gains are popular with working class think again. Our beloved "Elites" can't figure out why Main Street hates both sides with a passion. Look around the one percent does well out of things the rest of us are so far down the toilet they have to pipe in daylight. Change any change looks good. Thus the popularity of Trump and Sanders.

@Stephan
Much the same is going on in Europe. The issue of youth unemployment is just brushed aside. It is over 50% in some locations and it will blow up in their face. As Bob Dylan sang, if you aint go nothin you got nothin to lose. If nothing else it disenfranchises youth from society. If you screw consumers in a consumer society you end up with no consumer society which apart from anything else is why the recover is muted. It seems to be beyond economists to understand this. And yeah there will always be those who do okay. Millennials are due to be the biggest group since the baby boomers and they will be influential

Europe's standard of living is what it is precisely because of this wide-spread-but-dying dogma of austerity that you and most of Stanford zealots support... As a European citizen it is hard to believe that people like Mr. Boskin still have a voice these days... you talk about growth and its correlation with tax curbing, and budget consolidation... it feels like reading an accountant's diary. How about employment??

"tax cuts are more likely than spending increases to spur growth". The link you suggested doesn't clearly show where's the empirical evidence for this assertive. Could the author care to point that out?
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